In the next place, having moistened the strip of cotton cloth, with the
juice of the great tithymallus, and sprinkling on it the flos aeris, roasted
and triturated, and having made it into a tent equal in length to the fistula,
and having passed a thread through the ends of the tent again through the
stalk, and having placed the patient in a reclining position, and having
examined the ulcerated parts of the rectum with a speculum, pass the stalk
by it, and when it reaches the rectum, take hold of it and draw it out
until the tent be pushed through, and be brought on a level above and below.
When it (the tent?) has been pushed inward, introduce a ball of horn into
the rectum (the rectum having been previously smeared with Cimolian chalk),
and leave it there, and when the patient wants to go to stool, let it be
taken out and again replaced, and let this practice be continued for five
days. On the sixth day let it be removed, and drawing the tent out of the
flesh, and afterwards pounding alum and filling the ball (pessary) and
introducing it into the rectum, leave it until the alum melts. Anoint the
rectum with myrrh until the parts appear to be united.